On This Day in 1973, David Bowie Released This 'Stopgap' Album Just To Placate His Record Label
In 1972, David Bowie introduced his androgynous, otherworldly alter ego, Ziggy Stardust. Fans grew to love the garishly costumed, over-the-top rock icon—until Bowie unceremoniously killed him off in front of a live audience. Exhausted from nonstop touring, the 'Fame' singer was nevertheless obligated by his record label to release a new album by Christmas 1973. So, Bowie decided to put out together an album of cover songs as a 'stopgap' while he figured out what the next phase of his career would look like. He released that 'stopgap' album, Pin Ups, on this day in 1973.
'Pin Ups' Was David Bowie's Tribute to His Own Teen Idols
Rummaging through a stack of 45s in his Hyde Park Hotel room, David Bowie plucked 12 favorites that would become the Pin-Ups tracklist. 'These are all bands which I used to go and hear play down the Marquee between 1964 and 1967,' he later explained. 'I’ve got all these records back at home.'
The final result contained two songs apiece by The Yardbirds, The Who and the Pretty Things, along with tracks by the Kinks, Them, The Easybeats, The Mojos, The Merseys, and Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd.
Despite reaching No. 1 in David Bowie’s home country of the United Kingdom, Pin Ups failed to crack the Top 20 in the U.S. More than five decades later, it still ranks among the Thin White Duke’s more polarizing works. However, Bowie personally considered it the perfect bridge between the Ziggy Stardust and Diamond Dogs eras.
'Pin Ups was really my way of shaking off Ziggy completely, while retaining some excitement in the music,' Bowie told Uncut in 2001. 'It really was treading water, but it happens to be one of my favorite albums. I think there is some terrific stuff on it.'
That Time Metallica Fanboyed Over Bowie
While David Bowie and Metallica are pretty far apart sonically, the 'Space Oddity' singer left his mark on the heavy metal pioneers. In fact, their hit song 'Master of Puppets' borrows a riff from Bowie’s 1971 song 'Andy Warhol.'
Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett recalled how awestruck he and his bandmates were when they met David Bowie by complete happenstance.
'We sit down and there he is, just like, 'Hey!', baseball cap on. So funny, so personable and so goofy,' Hammett recalled. 'Rob [Trujillo, Metallica bassist] and I sat down, once again the fan boy stuff came out.'
